The present invention relates to a extremely versatile automobile pneumatic suspension control unit and vehicle anti theft device. The present device allows precise calibration and operation of all vendor's air suspension bags and incorporates a system for deflation of all vehicle air bags so as to place the vehicle body directly onto the chassis or frame so as to disable operation of the vehicle. Some of the control unit features, such as the vehicle disablement mode, can be operated remotely via a key fob transmitter.
Pneumatic bag vehicle suspension systems while common on larger commercial vehicles, have recently gained popularity with the car customizers. They can be operated individually, in pairs or in unison to cause the vehicle to hop, bounce and gyrate. They also serve the more utilitarian feature of allowing the vehicle's suspension to be tuned for load adjustments, ride height, a firm ride or a sport ride.
A plethora manufactures make these air bags and a control system to operate them. Each air bag has a pressure sensor (transducer) that is matched to the programmable logic control unit (PLC). Therein lies a problem of incompatibility. Users are constrained to the operation features and modes of the PLC with that specific air bag manufacturer's system.
The present device “learns” all manufactures pressure sensors and offers numerous additional operational features. Because of its ability to match a sensor to the PLC unit, other types of sensors, such as level or motion can also be used. It can be coupled to an existing vehicle alarm system to disable the vehicle upon such a prompt and alert the owner through it's digital display. The system also incorporates programmable valve timing to allow precise inflation/deflation pressures and velocities without the “hunting” often found in electronic systems. Hunting occurs when the physical response lags the electronic response enough such that the desired variable cannot be achieved in a reasonable number of positive and negative operational cycles.
Conventional systems continually inflate or deflate the air bags until the desired pressure is reached. This can lead to “hunting” unless a proportional band and gain are incorporated into the PLC to compensate for time lag in all operational modes. The present invention utilizes a pulsed inflation and deflation wherein the timed intervals of the air admit and air exhaust valves can be set by the users for different operational modes.
Henceforth, a universal pneumatic suspension control unit and vehicle anti theft device would fulfill a long felt need in the automotive industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this.